Why My To-Do List Looks Like a Junk Drawer
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You know that one drawer in your house that holds everything? Pens, rubber bands, expired coupons, a single AA battery, maybe a spoon that somehow migrated from the kitchen?
That’s my to-do list.
The Illusion of Organization 📝
When I first write a list, it looks beautiful—clean lines, little checkboxes, maybe even color-coded if I’m feeling extra. It screams: “Look at me, I am a functional adult!”
But then real life happens. And my list slowly mutates into a chaotic mix of half-thoughts, doodles, and tasks like:
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“Finish laundry” (which one? when? unclear.)
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“Call that guy” (…what guy???)
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“Fix thing” (???)
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A random grocery list item: “tortillas” 🌮
By the end of the week, it looks less like productivity and more like a ransom note written by three different people.
The ADHD Add-On Effect
Here’s the problem: I can’t just add one task. Oh no. Each task multiplies like gremlins in water. Example:
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Write “Buy groceries.”
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Suddenly also: check coupons, meal plan, find reusable bags, clean out fridge first, Google “why do cucumbers go bad so fast.”
Congratulations—one simple box just became 17 sub-tasks and a Wikipedia rabbit hole. 🐇
Why Junk Drawer Lists Work (Kinda)
Here’s the thing—just like that real junk drawer, my to-do list still sort of works. I may not know why there’s a sketch of a llama next to “pay bills,” but it reminds me that I did at least think about paying bills. That’s progress, right?
Plus, flipping back through old lists is like a time capsule of my ADHD brain. “March 4th: buy lightbulbs, start a podcast, learn Portuguese.” (Spoiler: I did none of those.)
My Half-Solutions 🛠️
I’ve tried all the “fixes”:
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Bullet journals → too pretty, I freeze.
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Apps → forgot the password.
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Sticky notes → great until my cat eats one.
At this point, I’ve accepted my to-do list will always be messy. But here’s the reframe: it’s not disorganized, it’s creative.
The Takeaway
If your to-do list looks like a junk drawer, don’t panic. It doesn’t mean you’re failing—it means your brain just stores tasks the same way your house stores paper clips and mystery keys. Messy? Yes. Useless? Nope.
Because somehow, eventually, things do get done. (Even if it’s not the thing you wrote down… or the thing after that… but hey, the junk drawer still closes, right?)
